Activity 1: Guided Meditation
Part of Gather the Spirit
Activity time: 10 minutes
Preparation for Activity
- Read the two-part meditation and prepare to present it to the group.
- Arrange the meeting space so participants can sit comfortably, without touching others, during the meditation.
Description of Activity
Ask participants to find a comfortable position. Invite them to close their eyes and listen:
Think about this morning. You woke up and went to the bathroom. After you flushed, you washed your hands and brushed your teeth.
Did you notice the water? It was clean and fresh and ready to use, right out of the tap.
Now you are ready for breakfast. Did you have something to drink? If you are an adult, perhaps you had tea or coffee. If you don't drink tea or coffee, maybe you had juice or water to drink with breakfast.
Ask the group to take a moment and reflect about how easy it was to get all the water they needed. Pause. Then say:
Please close your eyes again. Now, imagine you don't live here. You live in a country village. You wake up and have to go outside and find a private place to go to the bathroom. Maybe you decide to wait until you go to the river. You and your friends are using the banks of the river as a bathroom, since there is no other choice. You don't have running water in your village. You have to go to the river to get water to drink. You carry a large empty bucket with you as you walk to the river. After you are done, you wash your hands in the river, as do your friends. Now you fill up the bucket, with the same river water you just washed in. You carry the bucket of water home for your family to use it for cooking, drinking and washing, this morning.
Invite the group to share their responses: When you were asked to imagine being in a village...
- What did you see?
- How did you feel?
- What would it be like to have only one source of water to use, and re-use, for washing and drinking?
- How did it feel to have to go outside to go to the bathroom, wash yourself and get drinking water?
Including All Participants
The term "guided meditation" may mean little to younger participants. Use words like "let's pretend" or "let's use our imaginations" to draw them in.